


Pull of the Current

by SilverWing15



Series: Heart Of The Sea [6]
Category: Dream SMP - Fandom, Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Gen, Merpeople, Prequel, RIP, This was supposed to be longer but I don't feel like writing it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-16
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-25 01:21:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30081300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverWing15/pseuds/SilverWing15
Summary: Techno shifts out from under the pile of children. Vocalizing respectful welcome to the matriarch and a more begrudging one to the male. He replies in kind, his sail twitching.The matriarch scolds the both of them with a low hiss and they turn away from each other. The male stays the night, and Techno keeps watch of him as much as he does their surroundings.He can feel the male’s eyes on him in return and it makes his fins flare warning. There are many who would want the position that he holds. Many that would fight him for the honor of holding it themselves.He would know, that is how he got it in the first place.
Series: Heart Of The Sea [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2185698
Comments: 6
Kudos: 146
Collections: Completed stories I've read





	Pull of the Current

**Author's Note:**

> Techno backstory :D! This is really way shorter than it should be but I didn't feel like writing the whole thing out. I'm about Done done with Mer AU, even though I did end up writing Ranboo's backstory as well.   
> This was mostly to explore what life is like for a wild mer pod, and I'm pretty happy with it. It was fun to write, Enjoy!

The song of the territory males welcomes them, echoing through the waves. The matriarch lifts her voice in return. Thanking them for their protection and access to the bounty of their reef. 

Techno adds his rumble to her song, reaffirming his oath to hold no territory of his own so long as he keeps watch over the creche. The children are crooning, high and off key, more enthusiastic than beautiful. Techno winces as one of them warbles high and loud. 

They will stay here for a few days, maybe a week. They have been in the open waters for the past moon, Naming a few of the younger ones. Now they will rest and let the children play in safer waters. 

Techno settles down onto a rocky shelf and closes his eyes. He won’t sleep, but he can doze at least. He will keep watch tonight, he doesn’t trust the territory males to keep an eye on his creche. He has seen the way they goof off. 

He snorts derisively. 

A little hand tugs at his fin. He opens one eye. One of the newly Named children chirps begging to join him. He raises one arm and lets her tuck herself up against his side. Soon enough there is a whole gaggle of them around him. He purrs contentedly and he is answered from a dozen tiny throats. 

They are all tired, and soon enough they are all asleep, leaving Techno the only one awake in the oncoming evening. The queens are gathered around as well, singing the songs to put the sun to rest and welcome the moon. 

The matriarch has disappeared into the distance, either speaking with the territory males or doing some secret ritual that the rest of them are not permitted to know. 

Techno has only been the Nursery Guard for a year. He remembers the lessons taught to him by the matriarch of his own pod, but it is different seeing these things through the eyes of a child and through the eyes of a mer Named in his own right. 

The matriarch’s eldest daughter, her heir, though she is old enough to be a matriarch in her own right, drifts around the edges of the pod, touching the rocks and softly singing blessings to keep them safe. There are still a couple of young females up, following her and watching attentively to what she does. 

Finally, the moon rises in the sky. The matriarch returns, accompanied by one of the territory males. He’s big, older than Techno and scaled almost entirely in deep black. Only a few vibrant orange markings give him color and keep him from blending entirely in with the night. 

Techno shifts out from under the pile of children. Vocalizing respectful welcome to the matriarch and a more begrudging one to the male. He replies in kind, his sail twitching. 

The matriarch scolds the both of them with a low hiss and they turn away from each other. The male stays the night, and Techno keeps watch of him as much as he does their surroundings. 

He can feel the male’s eyes on him in return and it makes his fins flare warning. There are many who would want the position that he holds. Many that would fight him for the honor of holding it themselves.

He would know, that is how he got it in the first place. 

The night passes peacefully though, and in the morning the children are loud and rambunctious. Glad to finally be in safe waters where they can play to their heart’s content. 

The black male doesn’t return to his pod though, Techno can hear them calling but the black male doesn’t answer. Instead he lingers, hovering over the children, shepherding them away from the edges of the reef and showing them the best places to look for little fish to practice their hunting on. 

Techno growls at him when he tries to touch his cheek to one of the kids’, flaring his sail and snapping his teeth in warning. The black mer ignores him, crooning softly to the child as though Techno doesn’t exist. 

Techno hisses, looming closer with a beat of his tail. The child reads the tension between them and ducks away from the black male, swimming under Techno so that their tails brush as they leave. 

The black male watches with a keen eye. Techno growls again, flaring his fins to block the child out of sight. The reef is silent and still around them. The queens are not interfering, the matriarch is not interfering. 

The black male lunges and Techno meets him with teeth and claws bared. They swirl through the water, the black male rakes his claws down Techno’s side, trying to aim for the soft scales of his belly. Techno bites into his shoulder. 

The black male beats his tail powerfully and slams Techno into the reef, he screeches. He swipes his claws, scoring a hit on the male’s fins and shredding one of them. 

It isn’t enough. The male snarls and twists, his fangs dig into the back of Techno’s neck. Techno freezes. The black male has him pinned to the sandy bottom, blood drifting around them, poised to kill Techno. 

Techno vocalizes surrender. 

The black male keeps him pinned, his fangs dig deeper. The matriarch hisses and the black male lets him up. Techno darts away, to the edge of the reef. 

The children are watching with wide eyes. 

One of them calls to him, high and wavering, but it is not his place to answer any longer. Techno turns away and leaves the pod behind. His side bleeds freely, his path is marked by a trail of blood. Every movement of his tail is an agony. 

He doesn’t make it far. Only to the outskirts of the territory. He settles down on another rocky shelf, but this time there are no children begging to join him. There are no purrs or songs or blessings whispered to rocks. 

Only the waves hear him now, and they do not care. 

In the distance, he sees the silhouette of a shark, cruising the waters, likely drawn in by the scent of his blood. He is in no condition to fight it. He pulls himself from the shelf and forces his body to carry on. 

*** 

He drifts, listless in the current. Letting it take him where it will. Dimly, he is aware that he is in bad shape. His side is alight with pain where the black mer’s claws raked down it, the fang marks on the back of his neck pulse to the beat of his heart. His tail brushes the sandy bottom of the sea. The waves push and pull, carrying him with them. 

Forward and back. Like a queen rocking a newborn, the Sea Mother soothes him to final sleep. 

The waves roll him up onto the beach. The sand stings in his wounds but he doesn’t have the energy to do anything about it. Seabirds cry above him, he can hear them fluttering to his side. The Sea Mother has not even kept his corpse, he will not feed those who dwell in her great depths. He will be food for the sea birds and shore scavengers. 

It would be a fitting end, but Techno can’t seem to make himself close his eyes and accept it. He laboriously rolls over and drags his aching body to the shelter of a rock. 

He takes care of the wound as best he can and lays his head down, utterly spent. 

He wakes up when the tide rolls in, bringing with it the cool relief of the water. The Sea Mother has stretched out her arms to him and welcomed him back to her heart. He will live. 

**Author's Note:**

> So after this Phil will find Techno on the beach and they'll do the whole friendship thing and eventually they'll help Sam found the Center. But that would have been a Long Fic if I wanted to do it any justice so I'm not doing it. *maybe* one day I'll come back to this but I say that about a lot of my fics and I am yet to come back to any of them, sorry fam. Mer AU has been a really fun ride but after I post Ranboo's backstory that'll be it for this AU for a long time.


End file.
